Early last month, Utah’s senior Senator, Orrin Hatch, announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term, leaving the field wide open for Romney.

Romney should be a lock for the seat. Utah remembers Romney’s work saving the 2002 Olympics and seems willing to give him a go in the DC big house.

Romney has sky-high popularity in Utah, held over from his 2012 run and from rescuing SLC Olympics in 2002. He’ll be extremely well-funded. Would be VERY tough/suicidal for a Bannonite to challenge in primary.

If his first ad is an indicator of campaign direction, Romney will likely draw contrasts between Utah and D.C., specifically and intentionally avoiding any direct criticism of Trump.

According to several reports, Trump attempted to persuade Sen. Hatch to run for an eighth term, partially to ice Romney out of a Senate seat. Romney, who’s popular in Utah, expressed interest in running for the seat in the event Hatch retired. Politico reported a few months ago:

Donald Trump is going all out to persuade seven-term Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch to seek reelection — a push aimed in no small part at keeping the president’s longtime nemesis, Mitt Romney, out of the Senate.

Romney has been preparing to run for Hatch’s seat on the long-held assumption that the 83-year-old would retire. Yet Hatch, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is now refusing to rule out another campaign — a circumstance Romney’s infuriated inner circle blames squarely on the president. Their suspicions are warranted: Trump has sounded off to friends about how he doesn’t like the idea of a Sen. Romney.

The president’s mostly behind-the-scenes campaign to sway Hatch will burst into public view on Monday, when he arrives in Salt Lake City to hold a well-choreographed event designed to showcase his affection for the powerful Senate Finance Committee chairman.

Trump’s appearance is ostensibly official in purpose: He will announce his decision to reduce the size of Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante national monuments, a cause that Hatch has championed. But it’s also undeniably political: to use the trappings of presidential power to get a veteran lawmaker to rethink his long anticipated plans to leave the Senate.

A New York Times report published last month indicates that Trump may be warming to the idea of a Senator Romney:

The president has had Mr. Romney on his mind. Over golf earlier this year, Mr. Trump asked Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, what he thought of the former Republican nominee. (Mr. Graham said he praised Mr. Romney and predicted he would be a solid senator.)

Mr. Romney repeatedly assailed the president during the 2016 campaign, calling Mr. Trump “a fraud,” and Mr. Trump returned the favor, stating that Mr. Romney “choked like a dog” in the 2012 race. The two had something of a rapprochement after the election when Mr. Romney was briefly considered as secretary of state, but White House advisers are uneasy about having such a well-known critic in the Senate.

This race should be fun. The conflict won’t be in the race itself (well-liked, well-funded Republican running in a solid red state isn’t much competition) but amongst the self-professed political-media elites and their previous reporting on Romney.

Romney was fabulously critical of candidate Trump, calling him a “fraud” and a “phony”, harsh words from a usually (too) kind soul. Should be a point for Romney in the eyes of the press. Buuuttttt, he’s also a Republican, bearing the scarlet R. Not to mention the fact that he once killed a woman dead by giving her cancer when he wasn’t busy stuffing women into binders.

How they press will square their love of Trump-criticism with a candidate they once bent over backward to destroy should be entertaining at the very least.

” The Unmasking continues, and it’s not even Susan Rice doing it this time.

(If you notice the NeverTrumpers sounding increasingly liberal notes lately, it’s because they’ve realized the life-boats being supplied by the Washington Post, The Atlantic magazine, and other liberal publications only have so many seats, and they’re going to have to start competing for those few remaining Former (Fake) Conservative Paid to Bash Actual Conservative slots.

Gun control will be among the first issues where they announce “I have sinned and can sin no longer;” then they’ll start making noises about a more “rational” position on abortion. Global warming will come after that.)”

Realistically your only choices have to appear on the ballot. Who else has shown an interest in the job? #NeverHillary gave us Donald Trump, which was cringeworthy at the time but has been undeniably better than the alternative. What might a #NeverMittens get Utah?

If Mitt announced that he was running in MassiveTwoShits I would be impressed and behind him. Romney a fine man with well defined limitations. This announcement seems empty without the announcement in parallel with the death of John McLean.

If he is running, he will win. He is a good man and an honorable man most fitting for a generation ago… not for today. We need close quarters knife fighters in the Senate, not a tiresome New England style Rockefeller Republican.

That arrogant view is exactly what the GOP establishment likes you to believe. It feeds your ego and confirmation bias.

It’s a plain fact that voters in any (red) state are not dumber than voters anywhere else. So the explanation that “voters in [X] are stupid” doesn’t explain why people like McCain and Romney get elected.

What we’re seeing here is a concerted effort to FORCE this choice on voters. First comes the PREFERENCE FALSIFICATION: stories about how popular [candidate X] is in the state. Next comes the efforts to bribe/threaten everyone else to stay out of the race. After that comes the personal attacks and smears on anyone who doesn’t fall for the first two steps as a “kook” or “open-borders advocate” or “anti-Trumper,” etc.

All of these tricks (and more) were used in the Alabama race. You are being manipulated.

We all already know that Willard “Mitt” Romney will win his seat because – LIVs – and because he’s a Mormon Mafia superhero. In fact, I’d bet Mormon Mafia Capo/Enforcer Evan McMullin will surely soon come out from under his rock and raise his fugly bulbous head to sing the praises of Mittens Romney to all of Utah. That is, if super-Mittens blesses it.

Kemberlee Kaye sounds just absolutely thrilled that Willard “Mitt” Romney is returning to Capital Hill. And, she seems to demonstrate as much too. I wonder, why am I not surprised…..? I wish I could post a clever picture too – I have a great one extolling some rarely ever offered TRUTH of Mitt Romney, and it isn’t nearly so praiseful. Truly.

And, hoo-boy, here ya go. That didn’t take long. Already, the fetid, gaseous Swamp brays for its lost son’s return.

House Speaker Ryan said that he “couldn’t be happier” that Mitt Romney will run for Utah’s U.S. Senate seat. Paul Ryan in a statement released Friday [today]:

This is a terrific day for the United States Senate. I was honored to join Mitt Romney on the national ticket in 2012 and couldn’t be happier that he’s running for this seat. Our party and our country are always better off when Mitt is engaged, and I know that he will put his unparalleled experience, conservative leadership, and lifetime of service to work for Utah in the U.S. Senate. Janna and I adore Mitt and Ann. His campaign has my unwavering support, and the people of Utah will be getting an accomplished and decent man when they make him their next Senator.

#resistance GOP ! A pick up for the Democrats and NRO! Yeah! Lindsey Graham has another caucus member to alienate Trump voters. No doubt, Senator Romney will be quickly put on the most visible committees so he can pontificate for TV about how wrong Trump is on this or that.

I hope he does not get elected. He will be just another RINO and resist President Trump. He will be another media whore like Graham and McCain. Former Presidential Candidate is a fancy title for LOSER.

I’m… going to be cautiously optimistic. After all, I did vote for him once. It really depends on which of the two paths he takes, and we can’t tell that until *after* he’s elected.

Path #1: The Path of Sanity and Reason – This is where Romney steps up and ‘Translates’ for the frothing media and the Trump administration. It includes phrases like “I think President Trump has been very clear about border security…” and “In order to get control over government spending as President Trump stated, we are going to have to…” and “If the previous administration appointees used their offices for partisan political spying on the Trump campaign as the evidence shows, there will have to be serious consequences.”

Path #2 – The Way of the McCain Rino – In this case, he becomes the voice of the opposition party, countering and watering down any Trump proposal, helping the Dems hold up his nominees, etc… The press will, of course, love him for that, and slather on the praises *until* he does something stupid in their opinion such as run for the Presidency after Trump leaves office. Then it’s back to women in binders and dogs on cars 24/7.

I’m really hoping for the first. Trump surprised me. I hope Romney does too, in a good way.

There are a lot of name callers on this site. It didn’t use to be. Romney may not be the man some of you want but he is an honorable man who has his views and beliefs as you all do. He has never been accused of the backstabbing tactics used by so many in DC and he is very intelligent. I do not think he is going to DC to be a thorn in Trump’s side. I respect his decisions just like I respect all of yours but I don’t think he is the monster some of you are presenting. He definitely is not a street fighter but he does have ethics. That is something lacking in the Senate.

Please explain how you came to this conclusion. I was under the impression that the sole reason for his running was his desire to oppose President Trump, whom he finds undesirable and unworthy of the office of President.

Romney is definitely no backstabber. He prefers to stab Trump from the front, in full view, with an audience.